Set website goals in a smart way

As a proud business owner, you decided that it’s time to add online presence to your business assets. You spent days researching web design companies in your area, looking at your competitors’ websites and wondering what images you’ll put on the homepage. Finally, you are ready to hire someone to help you step up your business game with an awesome website. But where do you start? At the beginning of this journey, the first step is to clearly define and set your new website goals, and we will show you how to do it it in a smart way.

Imagine you were given a task to construct a building. You think, “All right, let’s start with the foundations, then assemble some planks and bricks, put a roof on it and we’re done”. But wait… is it going to be a house? Or a church? A shopping mall? The first and most important question you need to ask is what is the purpose of that building. The answer to this question will determine the whole construction process and any and all details about it, such as how many rooms and floors you will erect and what color you’ll paint the walls inside. Do you get it now? It’s exactly the same with your website!

Goals vs. objectives

At first glance, those may seem very much alike. The difference between them is that the goal is defining your broad intention, the overall aim, and the objectives are measurable ‘tasks’ you need to complete in order to achieve your main goal. You can also think about them as long and short distance goals

Start with defining the main purpose of your website. Think about your overall business and marketing strategy. Do you want to increase your website traffic? Maybe you want to sell a product online? Do you want to showcase your awesome photography skills? It’s ok to have more than one goal, but prioritize them in line with your business needs.

Then, define the measurable objectives that will help the website fulfill its main goal, while keeping your desired users in mind. Let’s find out how to do it.

SMART goals

Using SMART goal setting technique might seem like a boring activity straight from management theory textbook, but in reality it’s easy, quick and most importantly, IT WORKS. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant/Realistic and Timely.

Let’s take one of the common website goals, getting more leads, and explore how we can define it as a smart objective. For the purpose of this exercise let’s assume we are an architect studio specialising in home interior design with 4 employees and a very outdated website.

Specific – Can you define this goal so it’s clear what action to take? – For our architect studio, one of the ways we can get more leads is if the website will be more SEO friendly (responsive design, fast loading, easy to use, relevant keywords). That will prevent our visitors from fleeing back to search engine because the current site looks unprofessional and is hard to navigate.

Measurable – How will you know if you achieved that objective? – In this case, we want our website visitor bounce-back rate to go down by 20% and the average time spent on the website to increase by 30%.

Attainable – Do you have the resources to accomplish your goal? The two most common resources are time and money. Consider if you can spare one of the team members to complete the task for you, or should you rather hire an outside company to help you out? – Our studio has extra budget to invest in website modernisation.

Relevant – Will this goal help your business grow? – In our case, we expect to get more phone calls and quote inquiries coming from visitors who stay longer on our website.

Timely – When you will complete this goal by? – We want to have our new website up and running within 3 months.

This technique can not only help you set website goals, but can be applied to any field of life. To learn more about it, follow this link.

Examples of website goals

Some common website goals include:

Increasing sales

Increasing subscriber list

Becoming an authoritative resource

Building your brand

Downloading an app

Obtaining new customers

Getting more interaction

Every business is different and its website goals will be unique, that’s why there’s no definitive list of goals and objectives and it needs to be determined on a single case basis. You know your business like nobody else does and when you specify your goals and objectives, you are bound to be successful in achieving them.

Get a PRO to help you achieve your goals

Now, you are equipped with the in-depth knowledge about your website purpose and an action plan consisting of SMART objectives. Time to hire a designer who will take your goals and convert them into comprehensive web presence strategy, design and build the website in a way that will help you fulfill them, and will give you the solid foundation for achieving success. That’s what we at Techleus specialize in – giving you an online business solution to shine among your competitors, so you can focus on what you do best. If you want to find out more about our web design process, visit our Services page and Blog.

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AUTHOR:
Liliana Gawrys

Lila Gawrys is a web designer and branding passionate with several years experience in web and graphic design industry. Currently works at Techleus and helps businesses to establish their brand and online presence. Privately loves dogs, ramen and black clothes.

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